Morgan turns double digits!

Morgan was thrilled to finally celebrate her "double-digit" birthday. Ten is a really big deal in our house! On her birthday we celebrated by taking her to dinner at our new favorite restaurant Texas Roadhouse...yum!
The waitors at the restaurant had her sit in the birthday saddle and instead of singing, shouted out this:
Hey, we have a birthday, it's Morgan's birthday, Morgan is ten today. On the count of three lets give her a big yee-haw. One, two, three...YEE HAW! It was so cute the whole restaurant stopped and shouted out yee-haw; definitely my kind of place.
Morgan, thank you for giving me ten wonderful years of girlie time! We are so blessed to have you as part of our family. You are our nurturer and a great example to your younger sister. You never cease to amaze me, I love you.

Ty Daniel's first photo shoot...

I wish I could say that I was on top of things and that Ty went in for his regularly scheduled photo shoot but...that would be lying. I finally got him in today on his 11th week birthday to have his pictures taken for the first time. He did fantastic, although every time he smiled the photographer was a second late catching it. Half the time he just laid there cooing at the photographer, he really had a lot to get of his chest I guess :)
It's such a blessing to have a baby in the house again! I'm so happy to be Ty's mom. He's an absolute angel and all of the kids adore him. He's getting use to all of the kids being up in his face and giving him kisses all the time; it use to freak him out.
The other blessing of having a baby in the house is the silence...ah. The kids have learned to take the noise level down several notches now that the baby is here. Their voices are more quiet and calm, the TV stays turned down and there is little running through the house. Oh the peace :) Thank you Ty, you are just what our family needed.

Talkin', Talkin', Talkin'

I can't resist a baby's bum.

My cutiepatootie

Daydreaming of summers past

Having decided to take it easy this summer due to the birth of Ty, I've been thinking about what a great summer we had last year and how much I'm missing. It will be fun to get back into the swing of things next summer, hopefully having shed all this darn baby weight, and start doing the things we love.
I really can't imagine having to endure another dreary winter before I get out on the river again but I've resigned to it. I think Brian is planning a guy trip so that will be fun for him. I think we will make it to the beach towards the end of this summer when Ty is a little older, I'm just not sure I'll fit into my wetsuit! Anyway, here is a stroll down memory lane from last year:

Our week in Mexico

Sharing great times with cousins!

Riding our raft down the river with friends '08


Judy with her sweet smile


Duane concentrating real hard


Holy Cow!


Brother Paul, Duane & Judy, Steve & Leah, Brandon & Terri, Brian & I


The look on Leah & Terri's face is priceless!


Now you see them, now you don't!


Paul, Gail, Tim, Jillian, Connor, Brian & I


Jillian has no idea whats coming...

AND another one bites the dust...

I'm grateful for all my dear friends and family for all the great memories we share, last summer was a blast and I'm grateful for each of you!

Ty Update

Well, I've been terrible at taking pictures the last couple weeks. Here is a recent one. Ty had his two month appointment this last week and he's doing great. He weighed 11 lb 2 oz (28%) and is 23 inches (44%). He's very small but the doc says that his growing trends are excellent, he's just a little baby.
He's smiling, laughing and cooing all the time now. He always wakes up so happy. He loves to go on walks with Brian. He's been in his crib for 5 days now and doing well. He still wakes up several times but he falls asleep easily in his crib. The worst part so far, other than the sleep deprivation, is my monitor. It's TERRIBLE...tons of interference and static! I guess I'm going to have to break down and get another one but I have no idea which one to get. Any suggestions? Mine was not cheap and comes with 10 channels so I'm not sure what the issue is.
Anyway, that's the low down on little Ty so far. I'm crazy tired right now so I might be editing this later but for now I'm off for a little nap!

Our first injury of the summer

Just hours after my niece and mother-in-law left town, Morgan tripped over the hose and broke her wrist! She initially came in screaming that her head hurt, she had smacked her head into the ground, so I had Brian take her down to urgent care. She left with a head injury and came home with a broken wrist. When we saw the Orthopedist we expressed our disappointment that she had done this one week into summer vacation. He told her if she promised to be very responsible he would give her a brace instead of a cast so she can swim.
The kind of break she has is what he called a buckle break. Instead of her wrist bone cracking it buckled so it's bowed on the xray. He says it hurts like crazy but is not as susceptible to further injury as a crack is.
Funny thing about this picture is that Connor, Gail's son, tore ligaments in his hand and they both just happen to have an appt. in orthopedics on the same day only 5 minutes apart so we were able to carpool.

Kristina's Graduation!

She did it! Kristina graduated from high school on June 10, 2009. It was a nice ceremony but freezing cold. We got great parking with the use of my mother-in-laws handicap placard...thanks Sandy! She also saw us before it started so she was able to wave at us as she went up. My big beef with it was that Vintage high school does not require a ticket for the ceremony so it was PACKED and freezing (oh, did I already mention is was freezing). There were families that were literally saving three full rows of bleachers, all the way across! It was annoying and yes I got an attitude with a parent(or two). Brian wasn't there yet and I had just climbed to the very top of the bleachers with an infant in an infant seat in my arms and I wasn't about to climb back down so MOVE OVER!!
The other thing we get to look forward to five more times: our children will be one of the first to receive their diploma (Kristina was number 4)and then we get to sit through another 800 kids before it's over. IT WAS TORTURE! Don't worry, Kristina agrees; she was freezing her behind off and couldn't participate in the beach ball throwing because she was in the front row (sometimes having an A name isn't always the best). Congratulations Tina!
Oh, I forgot to mention, Brian knew the man that handed Kristina her diploma, he works in the DA's office. That was pretty cool.

Roller Coaster Junkie!

If you didn't know already, Morgan is an absolute roller coaster junkie! She has been since she was little; the wilder the ride the better. The poor girl has been waiting years to be tall enough to ride Medusa at six flags. Every year she asks if she's tall enough, we check, then every year I say,"No, maybe next year honey."
Well, look how she's grown! She was over the moon when she realized she could go. She went on with Cody and Connor because none of the younger ones would go. You go brave girl!

So happy she can go on!

There they are, second row back!

NO THANK YOU!

Morgan after the ride, as for Cody and Connor in the background,
it's just another day in the park!